When we think about Disney, we think about magic, princesses, speaking animals, iconic songs and an extraordinary successful branding. Some say that it was the innovative technology that boosted the company, some say they trust the narratives originality and brilliance. Thinking about that, what is the legacy built by Disney animations?
Main features and its world wide impact
The Disney Studios achieved its 60º feature film, “Encanto”, winner of the 79º Golden Globe as Best Animated Feature Film, maintaining the empire built by Walt Disney. By analyzing some of the studio's tendencies, we brought up some reflections related to the diversity of characters, culture and innovative technologies that the company developed.
In 1937, Walt Disney launched its first colored feature animation, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. At this time, animation was, until then, short length and black and white. The new movie surpassed any expectations about animation at that time, due to the high technology involved in the production and its quality. This Era of Disney animations drew inspiration for many other movies world wide, and started to replicate the technique applied in the movie. For example, the first colored animation in Japan, The Tale of the White Serpent from Toei Animation, embodies an animation technique similar to Disney’s Studios, years after the launch of "Snow White", in 1958. The movie was also important to show that the audience has “patience” to watch a long length animation which was uncertain at that time. Until then, only short length animation were in theaters like "Cat Felix" and "Betty Boop".
On the right, a frame from "White Snow and the Seven Dwarfs" and on the left a frame from the japanese movie "The Tale of the White Serpent". It is clear to see some similarities in the animation line and colors.
The empire did not always remain its quality and public appreciation stable. The eras considered most unsettled to Studios Disney were during the 2º Great War, when “Saludos amigos” came out, and during the 70’s and 80’s, when “Winnie the Pooh” and “Robin Hood” were launched. During crisis times, the studio would bet on productions with princess protagonists. These movies were the ones which granted major financial feedback to the studio, whitch was the case with the features "Cinderela", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Little Mermaid".
These kinds of productions came to be more recurring and less as a “warranty fund” to the studio. It turned out to be a more serious business and transformed the brand. Besides the skyrocketing sales of tickets with launches of the iconic “Disney Princess”, its branding has also grown significantly. As time went by, some aspects of the protagonists transformed and adapted to time. It is clear to see the way that Disney princess represents the brand and because of that we see such care with these productions, launches and the feature distribution. Everything around the princess universe, may they be supporting roles, villains, cute animals and songs, reflect globally in the branding business.
Toy stores of Disney characters. Beyond toys, there are also accessories being commercialized, like bracelets, pendants, earrings, etc, co-branding.
Creating content aiming for the global market is a visionary sight of the Studio, and it is not that recent. Many Disney animations were inspired by fairytales and mythological stories of multiple countries. By adding magic to the universal themes, attracting consumers to the whole world. The Disney Renaissance, through the 90’s decade, united a bit of every aspect beloved by the fans, being a source of inspiration until recent days for animations around the world. It was the time of launching The Lion King, Pocahontas, Aladdin, Mulan, etc, when the studio reinforced testing new technologies, like 3D, and new narratives, consolidating in the animation business a few years later.
Cultural Representation
Throughout the years, Disney animations were gradually adding more Cultural representation, with deeper dimensions, of multiple countries. Still, it is seen more american fairy tales predominant in its filmography. Recently, the biggest Disney launches tend to show less “common” cultures, like “Moana”, “Raya and the Last Dragon”, “Encanto”. Some Pixar films like “Coco” and “Luca” also contribute to cultural representation at Disney world.
On the other hand, we know that cultural representation at the movies can be controversial, mostly when the representation sticks to misinformed stereotypes. For instance, “Mulan”, released in 1998, was a case in which the representation of some Chinese culture stereotypes were not well received by the country’s audience and, because of that, have lost a great box office in China.
Another example is “Dumbo”, in which a group of crows reflect a racist attitude, stereotyping black people. The group leader, called Jim Crow, is reference to the Jim Crown laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.
The young artist Eowyn Smith painted some of the countries in which the narratives of Disney and Pixar animations are based.
In order to prevent cultural lapses during film productions, Disney has been investing more and more at the culture and research department, by funding travels for research and consulting specialists about specific cultural aspects of the countries. A real representation of a culture impacts the production complexity, resulting in better quality material.
Sometimes it is common to show a few stereotypes, but the magic is in the small details - there are many typical things in each country that only a person inside this cultural context may be able to understand and feel represented. For example, in the feature “Coco”, it is shown some secondary characters similar to famous personalities from Mexican culture: for instance the Mexican movie idol Catinflas, as well as the actor and singer Pedro Infante and Maria Félix. also an actress from the Mexican cinema. Encanto comes to add more representativity, being the first big release of Walt Disney Pictures inside latin american culture.
Photographs taken during the research trip of “Moana" production team in communities of the Pacific Islands, the place in which the feature is based on.
The role of Disney Pixar to inclusion and representativity
The studios responsibility of bringing narratives with more representativity and diversity emerged after the great successes of “Coco” in 2017 and “Soul” in 2020. The Disney + streaming platform has launched exclusive content, different from what we have seen until now. The series Sparkshorts produced by Disney Pixar holds the idea of launching short pictures produced and directed by the studio animators, as an “inner project”.
In some of them, the narratives approach more mature and abstract themes, with a glint of fantasy, for all kinds of audiences. The diversity presence in these short pictures is also something that complements the animation which transformed it into something so memorable. Different ethnic characters dealing with real and universal challenges. The streaming platform also provided access to the series making of, exposing the animator opinions and their motive to each production. These series “experiments” bring even more unique characters and cultures, “preparing" the audience to watch bigger pictures with the same spirit and feel the business, in order to understand what can be better.
On the left, the poster of the short picture “Loop”, about a child with autism dealing with communication between other children, and the poster of “Float”, on the right, about the struggle of parenthood with a different kid.
Identifying with characters
We could not let aside the studio technological contribution developed during some productions for the animation universe, like softwares for a specific render. For example, “light diffusion” exclusive software developed during “Coco” production, and for “hair” render, developed during “Brave” production. The Disney narratives make their mark on some generations with fantastic and full of magic stories. Throughout time, we have seen a big change on how brands represent diversity and inclusion, and how incorporate this is in their narratives. It is important to see an initiative of big brands on working more naturally and taking responsibility for the matter of representation and how it can reflect positively in business and to the audience.
Soul and Encanto might be seen as a historic repair. After taking a long period of time to launch narratives with black main characters or bringing stereotyped characters in some animations, the studio learned from its mistakes. Rather than release a picture with an “obligated” representation of diversity, it is seen how Disney have been committed to diving deeply into other cultures, creating narratives and telling them with naturality.
Just like Disney and many other studios that embrace this avant-garde responsibility, we should seek for cheating stories with no fear of breaking edges so that our art maintains its important role in humanity. Our planet is so vast and diverse that animation allows us to tell stories limitlessly to imagination. However, what really moves the audience to be delighted with these stories is how they identify with the characters - they make mistakes, have imperfections, and may fail in their mission. Mostly, come from the same place as we came, share similar families and face challenges like ours. More than being inspired by the work of great brands, we need to beware of minimal details from day to day, which make us who we are.
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